Snowboarder Chloe Kim to compete at Youth Olympic Games

Rachel Axon | USA TODAY Sports

Chloe Kim qualified for the Olympics in 2014, but at 13 years old she was too young to compete in Sochi. Now 15 and one of the top female halfpipe snowboarders in the world, Kim will headline a U.S. contingent competing in the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, which started Friday and run through Feb. 21.

The snowboarding phenom enters her competition on Sunday coming off back-to-back wins at the X Games and U.S. Grand Prix, making history in each.

Her X Games victory made her the only athlete under 16 to win consecutive golds in an event. She followed that up on Sunday by landing back-to-back 1080s – something that no woman had done before – to score a perfect 100.

That might seem like a lot for a teenager who loves candy and shopping, but Kim doesn’t see the mounting expectations on her as pressure.

“I just think of it as their way of supporting me. I think that just helps me every time,” Kim said at the X Games last month.

“I just feel like just being able to think of it different, in a different way really does help because it just gives you the better mindset and it’s more peaceful and not pressuring. I feel like I do expect a lot from myself.”

Those certainly include putting down a good run in the Youth Olympic Games, where Kim will be heavily favored to win a third competition in a row.